Cambridge Bird Club Meetings

2012 Programme of Meetings

St Johns Church Hall

13th Jan: The Biggest Twitch by Ruth Miller
10th Feb: Birds: a Hidden World by Peter Holden
9th March: Annual General Meeting followed by
The Arabian Bird Atlas by Mike Jennings

Cottenham Village College

13th April: Dragonflies: the Ancient Aerial Predators by Henry Curry
11th May: Birds and Birding on Lundy Island by Jonathan Smith

Outdoor Meetings

To be confirmed

Cottenham Village College

St Johns Church Hall

9th Nov: Earth, Wind and Fire: Potential Impacts of Renewable Energy on Wildlife in the UK by Benedict Gove
14th Dec: Christmas social

Friday 13th January, St Johns Hall, Cambridge

The Biggest Twitch by Ruth Miller & Alan Davies

Everyone has dreamt of doing it but very few have actually done it. Packed up their lives and lived their dream, leaving behind the safe and secure for the freedom and excitement of doing exactly what they’ve always wanted to do.
This is the tale of two people who did just that, the tale of a world record-breaking journey around the globe. Alan Davies and Ruth Miller had reached a point in their lives when they wanted something more and knew that if they didn’t go for it now, they probably never would. They could find no good reason for not undertaking this fantastic journey and once they’d started telling people about their dream, there was no going back.
As keen birdwatchers, both with a love of travel, it seemed obvious to combine these two passions in an odyssey of discovery to see the world’s birds. As the plan developed, they soon realised that this journey could become something more: a world record breaking attempt to see more bird species in a single year than ever achieved before. With an itinerary covering more than twenty countries and a target bird list of over 4,000 species, it was never going to be easy. Could they do it?
Follow the ups and downs of their birding year in this fast-paced adventure of birds, people and places. Anyone with an interest in travel, wildlife or human relationships will be gripped by this epic tale.
Alan Davies was Site Manager of the RSPB reserve at Conwy on the North Wales coast, and oversaw its development into a popular visitor attraction as well as a haven for wildlife. Ruth Miller used to be the RSPB’s Head of Trading. Together they now run The Biggest Twitch, their Llandudno-based birdwatching tour company.

Friday 10th February, St Johns Hall, Cambridge

Birds: a Hidden World by Peter Holden

A closer look at the behaviour of some of our common, and not so common, wild birds and other wildlife – some of the secrets that most books won’t tell you, and some that can only be told after the ‘watershed’! This talk is based on Peter’s new book with the same title.
Illustrated with my own photos, this is a wide ranging talk on British birds and some other wildlife from the point of view of how little we know about them and some of the amazing discoveries we are making about their lives –which are much more complex than we first thought.
Some of the sexual activities of birds, including infanticide and the Cain and Abel syndrome, make this more suitable for an adult audience!
The talk includes some new material of photos taken behind the scenes of the Natural History Museum – in the nests and eggs department.
Peter Holden was a member of the RSPB Headquarters staff for 40 years, and while running the RSPB’s junior membership he devised the ever popular Big Garden Birdwatch. He has written more than a dozen books, including the RSPB Handbook of British Birds and the RSPB Handbook of Garden Wildlife. A new book on bird behaviour is due in spring 2012. He is a regular lecturer on cruise ships and runs courses for Madingley Hall, Cambridge University and for the Bedford Education Retirement Centre. He was awarded an MBE for services to Nature Conservation in the 2009 New Year’s Honours List and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Friday 9th March, St Johns Hall, Cambridge

Annual General Meeting followed by
The Arabian Bird Atlas by Mike Jennings

An overview of Arabian birds looking at the issues that fashion bird distribution in Arabia and the atlas project which brought it all together.
Bird distribution in Arabia is a result of a number of important factors. The arid climate restricts breeding species over large areas to a few Saharo-Sindian arid land specialists, several with a nomadic tendency. A varied topography and natural habitat, which includes a wide range of geology; granite, sandstone, lave flows, limestone, not to mention sand dunes; mountain rising to 3700 m, juniper forests and mangrove swamps.
Varied zoogeographical influences also play a large part, there are many Afrotropical species in the south-west, an Indian flavour to the eastern part of the peninsula but the Palearctic fauna is predominant. Arabia is also a centre of endemism with 23 endemics, comprised of 11 landbirds, three endemics of the seas around Arabia and nine endemics in the Socotra Archipelago (Yemen).
A stealthy change to the Arabian avifauna in recent years has been the establishment of at least 20 ferally breeding exotic birds. Major changes to the Arabian environment since about the 1970s have added many species to the avifauna, for example through the development of huge areas of irrigated agriculture, diary farms and artificial wetlands. Near the city of Riyadh these influences have increased the local avifauna from 44 species breeding in 1977 to 88 breeding by 2002.
On the other hand the birds of Arabia also have to contend with a wide variety of conservation pressures, overgrazing, charcoal burning, pollution, hunting, the introduction of exotic predators as well as habitat change on a grand scale. Several species are now under threat.
The atlas project started in 1984 with the objective of defining the breeding distribution, ecological requirements of birds in Arabia. The project reviewed all published sources, some museum specimens but the main source of distributional data was from nearly 500 field observers and 40 targeted ABBA field surveys (1985 and 2009) to all corners of Arabia, especially those not recorded by others. When the atlas was published in July 2010 it included 273 confirmed breeding species and another 24 which probably breed.

Mike Jennings is Project Co-ordinator of the Arabian atlas and a member of Cambridgeshire Bird Club.

Friday 13th April, Cottenham Village College

Dragonflies: the Ancient Aerial Predators by Henry Curry

In a broad ranging talk Henry will discuss the life history, sight, flight capabilities, mating, evolution & fossil history and identification of dragonflies. He will also talk about the Dragonfly Project and the British Dragonfly Society.
For over 20 years, the Dragonfly Project has been working to raise public awareness of dragonflies first through its Sanctuary and then through our Biomuseum, now at Wicken Fen - and consistently on TV and radio. See: www.dragonflyproject.org.uk

Friday 11th May, Cottenham Village College

Birds and Birding on Lundy Island by Jonathan Smith

Jon Smith works for the Great Fen Project as Restoration Officer; previously he was warden at WWT Welney. As well as being a birder, he has a very keen interest in moths, dragonflies and photography. In his talk he will give an insight in to a small but wonderful island. He will be talking about Lundy's history and some of the other wildlife that makes Lundy such a special place to visit. The focus will be on the birds of Lundy and the thrill of birding the island in the autumn, from witnessing the sight of 15,000 Chaffinches migrating over the island in one day, to finding a first for Devon.

Friday 14th September, Cottenham Village College

The Decline of the Urban House Sparrow and Potential Conservation Fixes by Will Peach

Will Peach will summarise the findings of research efforts to understand the causes of population declines amongst urban and rural house sparrows, and discuss potential conservation solutions. He has worked for RSPB research dept for 12 years and now lead a team developing conservation solutions for farmland birds. Before that he worked at BTO for 9 years

Friday 12th October, Cottenham Village College

Cognition in Wild Jackdaws by Alex Thornton

Details to follow

Friday 9th November, St Johns Hall, Cambridge

Earth, Wind and Fire: Potential Impacts of Renewable Energy on Wildlife in the UK by Benedict Gove

Climate change is arguably one of the biggest threats wildlife faces in future decades. Tackling carbon emissions will involve the deployment of renewables on a huge scale. Bioenergy, wind power and solar energy are currently the most advanced renewable technologies available in the UK and are likely to see substantial growth in the next few years, if we are to meet targets for renewable energy production. However, all of these technologies could have considerable impacts on wildlife if care is not taken over the siting and design of installations.
Benedict Gove is a senior conservation scientist at the RSPB, specialising in bioenergy and wind energy and related impacts on birds and wildlife. He has spent over 10 years working on various projects relating to anthropogenic impacts on wildlife and the environment.

Friday 14th December, St Johns Hall, Cambridge

Christmas Social

Come and enjoy mince pies and mulled wine in good company while listening to inspiring short talks by club members.
Please contact Vicki Harley if you would like to give a short presentation.

Welcome to the Meetings section of the Cambridgeshire Bird Club website. All of our meetings open their doors at 7.30pm for an 8.00pm start. Meetings are held either at St John's Church hall in Hills Road Cambridge, or at Cottenham Village College. We have 9 indoor meetings for the winter months September to May, and usually 3 field meetings in the summer months. Indoor meetings are always held on the second Friday of the month. All are welcome to attend, there is a small charge for non-members.
This page is maintained on behalf of the Club by Vicki Harley and Chris Quy.

• Friday 13th January, St Johns Hall, Cambridge
• 
  Friday 10th February, St Johns Hall, Cambridge
• 
  Friday 9th March, St Johns Hall, Cambridge
• 
  Friday 13th April, Cottenham Village College
• 
  Friday 11th May, Cottenham Village College
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  Friday 14th September, Cottenham Village College
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  Friday 12th October, Cottenham Village College
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  Friday 9th November, St Johns Hall, Cambridge
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  Friday 14th December, St Johns Hall, Cambridge

CBC/BTO CONFERENCE

• SATURDAY SEPT 29th, Raptors: Conservation and Ecology